What do these dates mean to you?
1975,1980,1990,2008
If you are in business these dates should be tattooed to the insides of your eyelids as a constant reminder of the importance of working not only in your business (doing the work that pays) but to spend time working on your business (making it better).
SIDE NOTE This blog was written in 2011 a decade before the Pandemic added some numbers to the list.
They are important because 20% of businesses fail in their first year of trading, half never reach their fifth birthday and only 30% ever reach the 10- year anniversary.
Being in business is a full contact sport where many fall by the wayside for some common and predictable reasons and what can be predicted can be planned for.
Running a profitable business is not difficult in a buoyant market, it’s when things change and belts tighten that most struggle to survive let alone thrive.
The dates are the last recessions in the UK, what you might notice is that its been 10 years since the last one and as predictable as the next ice age is overdue the next recession is also predictably on it’s way like it or not.
Those that are adaptable will evolve and survive, those who fail to grow and change make up most of the business failure statistics that also correlate to the recessionary dates.
One of the keys to adaptability is learning and skills development; and of equal importance is implementing these changes into your business practice so you test what works, get feedback and then adjust. As a coach and trainer of course I am going to be biased and say this however it’s also a truism, which is undeniable.
Investing in coaching and training for yourself, your team and your business is an insurance against inevitable changes.
“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.”
Brian Tracy
Think about how business has changed in the past few decades. Technology alone has transformed so many aspects of business that even the idea of having to phone someone to book a hotel or plane ticket seems quaint and antiquated.
How did we ever cope before the internet, before fast speed technology evolved, before online marketing became so important? How will we cope with the inevitable adoption of crypto currencies, artificial learning & robotics, after Brexit?
These are the questions which the savvy company will already be asking and looking for solutions for and they will be the ones who make it through the 10 year barrier, through the next recession and beyond.
Disruptive change whether that’s in the form of technology, economic or political isn’t all bad news, in fact with the right attitudes they present incredible opportunities.
More dollar millionaire’s fortunes were made in the great depression days between 1929 and 1939 then anytime until the internet revolution came along.
How many million or even billion dollar businesses will be created because of disruptive developments in bitcoin trading, e-learning and an increasing use of artificial intelligence is something we will find out in due course.
Disruptive change is predictable, so if you are willing to continuously learn to adapt and grow, you and your business have the opportunity not only to avoid what for others may be an extinction event but to carve out an evolutionary niche and flourish – evolution isn’t over unless you stop learning.